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Pros
Runs Android 4.2.2. Rechargeable battery lasts two hours on a single charge. 4GB of internal memory. 30,000-hour lamp life. Highly portable. Connects via Wi-Fi. Video quality fine for YouTube and the like.
- Cons Unwieldy navigation that begs for an external keyboard/mouse. Frequently displayed blurred text. Lacks HDMI, VGA, and other common ports. Weak audio. Cursory user guide.
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Bottom Line
The Favi J7-LED-Pico Wireless Smart Projector is a portable multimedia projector that can run on battery power, plays media files from internal memory, and runs the Android operating system.
The Favi J7-LED-Pico Wireless Smart Projector with Android OS ($499.99) is one of the few projectors we've reviewed that has a built-in Android operating system. It's highly portable, and has a rechargeable battery that can power the projector for up to 2 hours at a time. It does well in displaying content that you've saved in its internal storage.. Navigating the controls on top of the projector was awkward in testing, and it all but requires an external keyboard and mouse. Some Android apps I tried with it worked well, but others were nonfunctional.
Design and Features
The J7-LED-Pico $499.99 at Amazon has an unusual design among the recent crop of mini projectors. It is palmtop size, in an age where true palmtop projectors have largely disappeared. The chassis is black with orange trim, measures 1 by 3.9 by 3.9 inches (HWD) and weighs just 7 ounces.
This DLP-based projector has an LED light source with a rated lifetime of 30,000 hours, a native 854-by-480 resolution and a rated brightness of 100 lumens. Behind the lens is a minuscule focus wheel. A switch on the projector's right side turns the device on and off. The J7 can be powered either from the included AC power adapter or via its built-in 2,000mAh rechargeable battery, which offers up to 2 hours of continuous use. It takes about 4 hours to fully charge the battery using the adapter.
All the controls are on top of the projector itself, as it lacks a remote. They include a controller with 4-way arrows and a central "M" (menu) button, flanked by an "OK" button and a backspace button denoted with a backwards arrow. Below them is a small touchpad area.
The J7 has a limited, yet unorthodox set of connection choices. One port fits an adapter cable for composite video, and doubles as an audio-out port for headphones. An On-The-Go (OTG) microUSB port lets you transfer video, photos, music, podcasts, ringtones, and more to the J7 from a computer or mobile device over an included USB cable. While the projector is connected to your computer in this manner, it appears in Windows Explorer on your PC as a mass storage device with the drive name FAVI, with subdirectories to transfer different file types to. A microSD card slot lets you run content from such a card.
A USB Type A port permits the connection of a USB thumb drive, a USB keyboard or mouse, or other USB device to the projector. I tried it with a USB thumb drive, a mouse, and a dongle for a wireless mini USB keyboard//touchpad. Having a USB keyboard with this projector is almost a necessity, as it is very awkward to navigate and enter information without one.
Operation
When you power on the projector (by pushing the On/Off switch), it will briefly show an opening screen, then display a menu of eight items, each with two-word descriptions, plus matching icons: Local Video, Local Images, Local Files, Video Source, Web Browser, All Apps, App Store, and Device Settings.
The first three menu items let you access and play content that's downloaded and transferred to the J7. I found it worked well for showing video and photographs. Video Source lets you connect to a DVD player or similar device over a composite video connection using a very short included cable. But it requires a second (three-stranded male-to-male) cable to connect the bundled cable to a DVD player. The Chrome-based Web Browser option opens the J7 browser to the Google search page, and it worked well in my testing. (I'll discuss the two app options when I talk about Android below.) Device Settings lets you connect to a Wi-Fi network, though the initial login would have been far easier if I'd had a USB keyboard already connected to the projector. (I did some of my testing using a Favi Entertainment SmartStick FE02RF-BL$30.49 at Amazon mini keyboard with touchpad that Favi sent us along with the projector, but is not normally included with it.)
Data Testing
Based on the recommendations for image brightness from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), a 100-lumen image should allow comfortable viewing at screen sizes ranging from 40 to 50 inches (diagonal) in theater-dark lighting. Although the image is usable at those sizes, a slightly smaller image (about 30 inches diagonally, with the projector about 3 feet from the screen) worked best for me.
As the J7-LED-Pico does not offer VGA or HDMI connectivity, I couldn't run our DisplayMate projector test suite. But in general, although color quality in the menus and images I encountered was good, type wasn't sharp. It was often hard for me to read app descriptions, instructions, and the like.
Video and Audio
Video quality is decent for a low-resolution entertainment projector, and should be fine for showing YouTube clips and the like. To its credit, the J7 shows fewer rainbow artifacts than most DLP projectors. Color correction is poor, with unusually bright reds. There's some loss of detail in both bright and dark areas. Sound from the two 1-watt speakers was weak. You can connect a pair of headphones or powered external speakers to the audio-out port.
Android Use
The Favi J7 runs Android 4.2.2 "Jelly Bean." As it's an Android device, you can use the 16 preloaded Android apps, and download additional apps from Google Play. The menu system is likewise Android, so it will be familiar to Android users and should be easy enough to pick up for newcomers.
I tried YouTube, Gmail, Google drive, and several apps I'd downloaded from Google Play, including Facebook and Twitter. Though most apps worked as billed, navigation for me in a few cases was unwieldy or impossible. For example, when I installed and opened the Twitter app, the Sign Up option was highlighted, but the arrow keys would not take me to the Log In box next to it. As of this writing, I still haven't gotten Twitter up and running on the J7.
It was a lot harder to set up Facebook than it should have been, as it listed by default my Gmail address as my Facebook username. I could change it, but a dialog field still showing my Gmail address was open, blocking access to the password field. I found a workaround, but it took a lot more time than it should have.
Not all Android apps ran well, and some I couldn't get to work at all. Navigation is awkward, even with the USB keyboard/touchpad (not included with the J7) that I tried with it. The AAXA LED Android Projector $481.00 at Amazon, another Android-based mini-projector, also has some navigation problems—though its controls aren't quite as unwieldy as the J7—and could benefit from a USB mouse. But the AAXA has a better range of ports, including HDMI and VGA, and better brightness at 550 lumens. The J7 has better video with fewer rainbow artifacts, though its text is blurrier.
Conclusion
In terms of brightness, the Favi J7-LED-Pico Wireless Smart Projector with Android OS falls well short of the 1,000-lumen InFocus LightPro IN1146$637.36 at Mwave.com, our Editors' Choice LED-based mini-projector, but the IN1146 can't run Android, though it does have HDMI and VGA ports. If you get the J7, you'll need to invest in a wireless keyboard to preserve your sanity while navigating. This projector's options for connecting with external video or data sources are limited, but with the J7, you do get a highly portable multimedia projector that can connect via Wi-Fi, operate on battery power for up to 2 hours, play media files from internal memory, surf the Web, and run either preinstalled Android apps or ones downloaded from Google Play. That's versatility in action.
Dredits : http://www.pcmag.com
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